The cash squeeze in China was instigated in Beijing by a central bank grasping for some way to slow out-of-control credit growth, reports the WSJ, citing internal bank documents. With the panic subsided (for the moment), the finger-pointing begins, taking away from the question of what to do about what even Beijing leadership sees is a massive credit bubble. FXI continues near a 52-week low, and so do assets like the Aussie dollar (FXA), and miners VALE, RIO, and BHP Billiton (BHP, BBL).

A 56% Q4 rally in iron ore prices has some declaring China back and the bear market in the key mineral over. The price at China's Tianjin port has reached $135.40/ton, well more than double the average cost of production in Brazil (VALE) and Australia (BHP, RIO).

BHP Billiton returns to the Australian bond market for the first time in 11 years, selling $1.02B in 5-year notes. Unconcerned with the reversal in Oz's mining boom, investors bid for about twice the amount of paper offered, and the issue was priced at a lower yield than what higher-rated Aussie banks must pay.